The Heart Within
by Gravity Control
Summary: The group wants to celebrate a special day, but Xana steps in. As if that weren't enough, everyone is torn apart by different dilemmas, some big, some small, and they hope against hope that their friendship will hold together. [JxY OxA]
1. Holiday?

**This is dedicated to the brave soldiers at Wikipedia, as well as everyone here, especially mageintheshadows. Oh, and there are _no_** **OCs in this one!**

**There are mushrooms all around you.**

- - -

- - -

"_It's over, Aelita," said the bright orbs that were her father. "Xana is too powerful. He's become a threat to all mankind. I've got to shut down the supercomputer."_

_Aelita sat inside the tower, overwhelmed with fear that her daddy would disappear forever. "But does that mean we'll die?" she asked unsteadily._

_Franz Hopper's answer was stern but calm. "No. But you mustn't forget me! Ever! Never forget, Aelita!"_

_Aelita didn't understand what he meant, but she had no further time for reflection; the tower grew dark, and the little girl drifted into unconciousness._

Aelita's tearstained eyes fluttered open. She sat up in bed, slightly dizzy. The clock beside her read 3:36 a.m.

She wiped the tears from her face, surprised at herself for crying in her sleep. Her father had told her to never forget, but she would rather not listen to that now. Aelita didn't want to remember the pain that tore her apart again each night in her dreams.

Franz Hopper only wanted his daughter to be happy. He wanted a world without danger, but Xana was a menace to the whole planet. Then again, it was probably Jeremie's fault for starting up the supercomputer. No, it wasn't. If it weren't for Hopper there would be no supercomputer to start up.

Moonlight, being interrupted by windowpanes, made four square shadows on the wall. The air was so hot that Aelita could scarcely breathe, but she was sure it was cooler outside.

On nights such as this, she felt the urge to visit the Hermitage, or Lyoko, or any place that reminded her of her past life. Lyoko was only virtual, and she had been imprisoned there for several years, but it was a place where she always felt safe, despite the monsters. It may have been a virtual universe, but to Aelita it was very real.

Lyoko. She found it hard to believe that her home away from home was left with only two regions, the Mountains and Sector 5. She would have to avoid the Scyphozoa.

A bit exhausted, Aelita decided to go back to sleep to stop her racing thoughts. Maybe her dreams would be less scary this time.

- - -

As the sun kissed the horizon, Ulrich was stuffing book after book into his knapsack. He turned around as he realized he was one book shy and scanned the room with his eyes, but found no trace of his history book. Finally, discovering it under Odd's pillow, he pulled it out mercilessly.

"Hey, what are you doing? I'm trying to sleep," Odd whined.

"Sleep?" Ulrich repeated slowly. "We have no time for sleep, good buddy. We have to get this room in tip-top shape. Don't you remember what today is?"

Odd instantly sprang out of bed, his eyes as wide as saucers. "It's the anniversary!" He was right. That breezy day was the two-year anniversary of the day that Team Lyoko met Aelita. Since it was a Sunday, the event would not be spoiled by endless classes and homework. As a bonus, there had been no Xana attacks recently.

As for the method of celebration, Yumi and Jeremie thought Aelita would be delighted if Yumi's mother baked a cake; Ulrich said they should just get her a present or two; Odd wanted to throw a grand party with the works. The decision eventually turned in Yumi and Jeremie's favor. The group had no money, and a cake would cost little.

Now Odd started to push different things into his closet. "Did Mrs. Ishiyama bake that cake yet?" he asked, his voice muffled from being buried in the closet.

Ulrich shrugged. "Don't know. I'll call Yumi." He picked up his cell and dialed the number. "Hey, is the cake ready?" Pause. "What? Well, can you fix it?" Pause. "I don't know, just lock him in his room." Pause. "But why? I thought it was a cake, not a Chinese dishtowel." Pause. "Alright, bye Yumi." He hung up, then turned to Odd, who brought his head out of the closet to hear the news.

With a sigh, Ulrich reported, "Hiroki devoured the cake. _All of it._ Yumi said she and her mom worked really hard on it, and it was strawberry too."

"Didn't they punish him?"

"Hiroki locked himself in his room. They can't get through to him."

Odd sat on the ground and threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Well, what now? I really wanted something special for Aelita today! I mean, it's no anniversary without a cake, you know!"

"Do I detect a hint of concern?" Ulrich laughed. "Hey, Odd, it's gonna be alright, don't spaz out on me."

Odd turned scarlet ruby and quickly mumbled, "I wasn't spazzing out, I..."

"Okay. Sorry, Romeo. Look, we can pick up a cake at the store and replace the one Yumi's brother ate. No big deal."

"But it's not as special as a homemade one."

"Birthday Girl won't know the difference. Promise."

"It's not her birthday, Ulrich, it's the two-year anniv--"

"Odd! Details! Whatever!"

- - -

Yumi walked across the courtyard with a strawberry cake, keenly searching for any of her male friends. For now, she had to make herself scarce from the Birthday Girl at all costs while holding the magical cake. She must be prepared, on Aelita patrol. Odd had given her strict instructions to guard the cake. "Don't let her see it until 3:00 p.m.!" he

Distraught by her brother eating the cake that she and her mother baked so painstakingly, Yumi bought another one at the store before coming to Kadic. It wasn't as alluring as the original, but hopefully it would be enough.

She received a lot of curious stares from her schoolmates, but continued her march until she reached the dormitory building. She dashed down the hall and knocked on Millie and Tamiya's door.

Millie opened it and greeted amiably, "Hi Yumi."

"Hello," Yumi replied. "Listen, can you and Tamiya hold onto this cake until 3:00? It's for a friend of mine."

"Absolutely," Millie assured her. "We'll take great care of it, don't worry."

"Cool, I appreciate that. Well, I have to go. Bye."

Just as she stepped outside, Yumi's cell phone rang. "Yes, Jeremie?" she answered, listening intently. "Okay, I'm on my way." She hung up and looked at the sky. _So much for the anniversary. Thanks a lot, Xana!_


	2. Security in loss

Yumi ran as fast as possible to the factory. Jeremie was typing away at the supercomputer in the lab. He looked up when Yumi arrived. "There you are. Everyone else just got to the scanner room, so go ahead and catch up with them."

She nodded and pressed the button on the elevator. Once in the scanner room, she stepped into one of the three scanners, as did Aelita and Ulrich, and the doors closed.

"Transfer Yumi, transfer Aelita, transfer Ulrich. Scanner Yumi, scanner Aelita, scanner Ulrich. Virtualization!"

A chill wind cut through the scanners. The three teenagers disappeared into thin air; they flew through the warm, pulsing wires and dropped to the stony ground of Lyoko's Mountain region. Odd soon followed.

"I think the core of Lyoko is in danger," Jeremie called from above. "Go to the edge of the region and I'll program the transporter. I've already programmed your vehicles at the dome."

"Good thinking, Einstein," Ulrich said, but then he added bitterly, "What exactly do you mean 'I think'?"

"Well...it looks like it's in danger, but I'm not certain."

Odd scoffed and shouted, "You brought us here for nothing?"

They set off for the edge anyway. After the transporter took them to Sector 5 and departed, the arena whirled around until it slowed to a gentle halt. The Lyoko Warriors flashed away.

They ran the path that opened up to them, and accordingly found themselves in a room with nothing but an exceptionally narrow walkway leading to the key.

"You have two minutes left to trip the mechanism," Jeremie told them.

They glanced at one another, silently disputing on who would trip it until Yumi began to carefully pace the walkway. The three on the mainland held their breath.

Suddenly, Yumi fell off the walkway, disintegrating into sheets and grid. Her companions turned to face her attacker, one of three Mantas. The Mantas flew towards the team and fired their lasers.

"Laser arrows!" Odd jumped into the air and gunned down the monsters, eliminating two. Aelita tried to shoot at the remaining one but missed, and its fiery beam smacked her as a result.

Meanwhile, Yumi joined Jeremie in the lab as he informed the band on Lyoko, "Your life points are all clean, but Aelita lost 30 from that Manta. You have to trip that mechanism now."

"No one's going for the key," Odd protested. "Yumi died and she's five times more flexible than us."

But Aelita solved this problem. She concentrated and brought up an energy field, aimed for the key, and released the field. It worked; the key pressed into the wall and spread throughout the room.

Odd gave her a thumbs-up. "Nice one, princess."

A ladder showed up before them, guiding from their spot up to a path in the sky. The troupe climbed the ladder quickly, then hurried down the path, which eventually led to the dome, where their vehicles were waiting. They mounted them and began to fly towards the chamber of the core of Lyoko. Odd said, "Hey, it's weird there are no monsters to stop us out here in the open."

"Yes," Aelita agreed, "but there will be plenty in the chamber."

They reached it soon enough. Ulrich tripped this mechanism, the stairs materialized. Aelita was mistaken; there was only one monster here, a monster that Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita recognized on sight, and that brought them to a standstill.

On Earth, Yumi pointed to the computer screen. "Look, Jeremie!" she cried. The Scyphozoa, dreaded enemy of Aelita's memory, hovered on the bridge leading to the core. It appeared on the screen as a red dot in front of a larger blue one. What was more, the Scyphozoa was motionless. It touched neither the core nor anything else. It was the only monster in the room.

"What does it want? What are we going to do?" Odd shook his head mournfully.

Aelita ignored him. "Come on!" She was the first to bound up the stairs, with the others closely behind.

The Scyphozoa was facing the core. The Lyoko group reached the bridge in no time. Odd shot a laser arrow at it to get its attention and yelled, "Yoo-hoo, jellyfish cup, over here! Aren't you going to hit us? You don't have a weapon?" The arrow didn't affect the Scyphozoa. As for Odd's taunt, the Scyphozoa just squealed.

Out of the blue, it began to glow, but it still didn't move.

"Something's wrong, Jeremie," said Ulrich forebodingly. "The Scyphozoa...it's glowing. What does that mean?"

Jeremie exploded into panic. "You have to stop it! It's charging a weapon and it's going to destroy the core!"

The Lyoko group fired and hit the Scyphozoa with all their might, but it was no use. Suddenly it stopped glowing. The Xana sign on its head glowed instead, with a bright green color. It created an enormous green energy field similar to Aelita's, and fired at the core.

"The core's lost both shield layers," Yumi pointed out, "and it looks like the Scyphozoa is charging again!" Sure enough, its head glowed for another attack.

Aelita suddenly hugged Odd. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Without warning, she ran across the bridge, under the Scyphozoa, and dived into the core of Lyoko.

The chamber of the core of Lyoko was quaking, and a bright light blasted throughout the room. Before either one knew what hit them, Ulrich and Odd appeared in the scanner room, shaken and a bit scared.

- - -

As Jeremie tapped the computer screen, he explained quietly, "Aelita is embedded in the core of Lyoko. Unfortunately, she's tied to Lyoko again, just like old times. But she's protecting it. With her inside of it, the core is invincible." He looked at each of his friends, who were crowded around the supercomputer.

"Can you get her out?" Odd questioned dejectedly, afraid to hear the answer.

"I don't know. I've never seen a case like this before. I'm not sure if I have the resources to get her out of there, but I'm going to try."

Ulrich said optimistically, "I think the Scyphozoa's gone for good. Me and Odd were devirtualized when Aelita jumped in, so I bet that jelly-monster went with us."

Yumi shrugged. "See? That's one point for us."

But Odd turned around and headed for the elevator without a word.

"You guys go on," Jeremie suggested. He started typing. "I have a lot of work to do."

- - -

Nightfall was covering the city, and in Ulrich and Odd's room, the latter couldn't stop sulking. "I can't believe this is happening. This was supposed to be a special day," he moaned, laying face-down on his bed.

Ulrich sat beside his friend and tried to cheer him up. "Jeremie said he'll try to free her. I know this is bad, Odd, but it'll get better. You'll see."

Odd lifted up his head and drilled Ulrich into the wall with his eyes. The pillow beneath him was soaked with tears. "It won't get better!" He went back to the pillow.

Ulrich tried to pay no attention to his friend's gloomy remark, but as he gazed out the window at the dusky sky splashed with purple and pink, he wondered if Odd was right.

- - -

- - -

**Hmm...hints of Odd/Aelita...interesting...**


	3. Tangle

On Monday morning it rained mercilessly. The sun shone, however, and the sunshine made beautiful shadows and shades mixed with the misty downpour and thick clouds.

Odd was just as gloomy as the weather. He had never really realized his feelings for Aelita until yesterday. He wanted to hold her, to tell her how much he loved her. His wondrous angel was gone, and his broken heart ached with the sting of loneliness.

His friends, although worried, were cheerier than him and went about their day with a neutral attitude.

There was yet another problem, and the team - minus Yumi, who was trapped in music class - met with this problem under the vicious rule of Suzanne Hertz.

Chemistry class was starting. As the students took their seats and gathered their notes, Mrs. Hertz picked up the list of students. When the students were in order, she called out their names one by one. "Sorya Abulabbas."

"Here."

"Thomas Jovilet."

"I'm here, ma'am."

"Aelita Stones."

For obvious reasons, Aelita didn't answer. With a firmer tone, Mrs. Hertz repeated, "Aelita Stones."

Still no answer.

Irritated, Mrs. Hertz set down the list and looked directly at Ulrich. "Excuse me, Mr. Stern, where is your pink friend?"

"She's, uh, on vacation," Ulrich stammered, searching for a defense. "Sorry it was on such short notice. Julie Vigoroux, she was gonna tell you, but she got distracted - you know what happened to Julie's uncle."

"Yes, yes, I heard about that. Quite an ill-fated tragedy. Well, Ulrich, I'll let Miss Stones slide. How long will she be gone?"

"Uh...three days at the most."

There was a brief pause. Accepting Aelita's imaginary vacation as true, Mrs. Hertz said, "Fine, well enough," and picked up the list of students, calling them out.

Ulrich gave his two buddies a thumbs-up. He was thankful he was able to buy some time. That solved one tight spot, but unfortunately his fast thinking couldn't bring Aelita out of the core of Lyoko.

- - -

"With a little luck and elbow grease, Aelita will be out of there around the end of her imaginary vacation," Jeremie said at lunch after class.

Yumi joined her hands and remarked, "I hope your work is going somewhere."

"Slowly. And speaking of work, I'd better get things running in my room." He set down his tray and stood up.

Yumi left her tray as well and also stood up. "Why don't I come with you? I'm no genius, but I'll learn a lot from you, I'm sure." She followed him out of the cafeteria.

"They better stay off each other," Ulrich said to no one in particular once they were out of earshot.

"Oh, has your precious Yumi abandoned you for your best friend?" teased a shrill voice. Instead of practicing her ritual of stopping to chat and taunt Ulrich, Sissi just passed his table, laughing.

She didn't know it, but her words went - ironically enough - straight to heart.

- - -

"...this program will also find Franz Hopper. I think. I'm not sure, I haven't done enough testing." Jeremie glanced up at Yumi to check if she grasped anything he was saying. And she didn't. Yumi had never understood the vast world of computers which stretched out beyond time and space. It was dizzying.

Besides, now that she had a chance to be alone with Jeremie, time and space weren't exactly on Yumi's mind today. She gazed at him as he talked about Lyoko's technological consistency. He was so wonderful; polite and gentle, dazzlingly smart, and extremely cute.

Yumi tried her very best to hide her secret love for Jeremie. It had started ever since that summer vacation, when she decided Ulrich shouldn't stick so close to her. She remembered what she said in their post-vacation conversation. "I've been thinking. We're going around in circles. One day I'm jealous, the next day it's you..." But she couldn't bear being in a close relationship with both of them. Not that there was anything going on between Yumi and Jeremie. Well, not at the moment.

He seemed to notice her staring at him. "Is everything okay, Yumi?"

_Everything's okay when I'm with you,_ she thought, but said aloud, "I don't know."

"Trouble with Ulrich, maybe?"

"I guess you could say that. Jeremie, I've been having second thoughts about Ulrich...he's...he's not the one I love. There's someone else." _This is it. I'm going to tell him._

"Is it William?"

Yumi was about to say no, but just then the computer beeped. Red grids of two towers appeared.

"Oh no, two activated towers!" Jeremie gasped.

Yumi frowned at the computer. _First the anniversary, now this. Thanks again, Xana. Is there any other way you'd like to ruin my life?_

Apparently, there was another way. A black cloud of smoke seeped out of an electrical outlet, and slowly engulfed Yumi.

- - -

Ulrich sat at the lunch table, poking at his Brussels sprouts. Somehow, they were less than irresistible this afternoon, probably because Sissi soured them.

Unexpectedly his cell phone rang. "What's going on?" he answered.

"Get Odd and go to the factory. There's two activated towers. Yumi's being controlled by Xana, and she's attacking me!"

"Who's gonna operate the supercomputer?"

"Either you or Odd. I'll try to follow you later, if I can distract Yumi."

"But Jeremie, how do we deactivate the towers without Aelita?" That was up to Ulrich; there was a static buzzing noise on the other line, then an ending click.

"Xana emergency?" Odd asked, standing up.

Other than a sigh, Ulrich made no response. He didn't need to.

- - -

- - -

**More trouble for our heroes! Stay tuned!**


	4. The golden mean

At the factory, while Jeremie battled Yumi at Kadic, Ulrich and Odd reached an impasse. Since Jeremie was busy fighting, someone must operate the supercomputer, and someone else must go to Lyoko, but Aelita was resting inside the core thereof, so it was nearly impossible to deactivate the two towers.

After a bit of debating, Ulrich and Odd eventually settled the deadlock: the former would take the controls and virtualize the latter into Lyoko. Their only beacon was a thick technical book Franz Hopper wrote, detailing almost every formula, code, and program in the supercomputer. Yumi had used the book once to virtualize Jeremie, although the result was rather unsuccessful. The book proved rewarding to Ulrich, though, who knew how to activate returns to the past thanks to the information in it.

In order to keep the book in sight at all times, Ulrich placed it just below the keyboard, as Yumi had done ahead of him.

"I'm in the scanner," Odd declared. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"No," Ulrich said quite truthfully, "and chances are you're gonna end up miles away from the towers."

"I'll deal with it. I'm ready to go now."

"Alright. Transfer Odd, scanner Odd." He pressed the Enter key after a slight hesitation. "Virtualization!" _Please, please, please get Odd to Lyoko out of harm's way...come on..._

Odd landed and got to his feet. He was in one piece, and the Mountain region around him was no different than it was in his last virtualization. _Cool! I like muffins!_ he thought randomly. "You did it, buddy! I'm on Lyoko safe and sound."

Ulrich threw a triumphant fist in the air and shouted victoriously, "Yes! One point for our team!"

"I heard that! Now, business time. How do we deactivate the towers?"

- - -

Jeremie was running on the bridge to the factory, with Yumi close behind. He was almost at the entrance.

But before he could reach it, Yumi leaped over him and slammed down directly in front of the factory. As if his luck hadn't yet reached rock bottom, a powerful dust storm appeared, swirling towards them. Jeremie tried to charge past Yumi, but she thrust him backwards with a forceful energy blast.

The dust storm was getting closer, but Yumi was determined to stay in place.

- - -

On Lyoko, Odd was sitting on the ground, waiting for Ulrich to come up with a solution to deactivation.

Ulrich flipped through Franz Hopper's magical book until he came to a section on DNA. He read everything there. "Odd, do you read me?"

"Like a book, my friend." Odd stood up and kicked a rock. "I hope you have good news."

"Better believe it. You know what we're gonna do? We're gonna put Aelita's DNA into you. It's easy. You gotta go into a tower, and I can give you her DNA."

"Sounds cool, but why do I need it?"

Ulrich checked the book again. "Hopper made it so that the towers need only Aelita's DNA to carry out any tasks, like entering the Lyoko code. Well, the towers hold DNA for anyone who's ever been on Lyoko. You go into a tower, float to the upper platform, put your hand on the screen, and we're ready to go."

"There's a tower right by me." He ran inside and stood in the dead center. Odd floated up to the top, where he was presented with a blank window. Once he pressed his hand against it, it flashed with the words, "Invalid DNA. Perform DNA transaction?" There were two buttons: _yes_ and _no._ He pushed _yes._ Then another window popped up: "Perform transaction between whom?" He typed in _Aelita - Odd _and the window disappeared. A light spiraled down through the top of the tower and swallowed Odd.

Ulrich shrieked with excitement. "Cool! The transfer's working!"

"How long will this take?" Odd asked, jabbing the light.

"All done."

The light dissolved into thin air, and Odd chanted, "Wow, that was super quick. I'm Aelita! I'm Aelita! Aelita-lita-lita! I'm Aelita-lita-lita-lita--"

He was cut off by Ulrich. "Would you just go for that tower already?"

- - -

Jeremie moved toward Yumi slowly. For a few seconds he didn't move. Abruptly he ran past her, and he slid down the rope before she could catch him. Yumi slid down as well, and, leaving no stones unturned, pulled the rope out of the ceiling. Then she shocked Jeremie again.

As he lay still on the ground, she concentrated a massive amount of energy and completely demolished the elevator. When that was done, she focused on Jeremie again, but he was gone, running through the factory.

She tore after him, with the dust storm following her.

- - -

Odd could see the tower now. It was coming closer and closer...he ran inside, stood in the middle, started soaring up to the platform above.

- - -

Yumi caught up with Jeremie in no time. She backed him against a wall, and brought up a sphere of pure voltage and fired. It knocked Jeremie to the ground. He was beneath Yumi, and he shuddered as she formed another sphere.

The dust storm was all around them, blowing everything around.

- - -

The window in front of Odd flickered once or twice. Words appeared onscreen.

_Aelita_

_Code_

He typed in the rest, and the window flickered again in recognition.

_Code Lyoko_

- - -

Jeremie winced, afraid Yumi was going to kill him, but Ulrich and Odd came through. The Xana sign was wiped away from Yumi's eyes, and she slipped to the ground, on top of Jeremie.

After a moment, she regained consciousness. When she noticed where she was, she instantly scrambled off of Jeremie. "What happened?"

"I'll fill you in later. For now, we're in a little crisis." He pointed to the dust storm flurrying around them. It was becoming progressively violent, and he put in, "The elevator's down. Only Ulrich and Odd are going to save us."

Yumi said, "We have to find shelter from this horrible storm. What are we going to do?"


	5. Juste milieu

Odd ran out of the first tower, beaming over his first deactivation. "Did you see that? Did you, Ulrich? I deactivated that tower! 'Cause I'm Aelita-lita-lita--"

"Odd, do me a favor and stop yelling that stupid song, okay?" Ulrich scolded, reading the book intently. "We don't have much time. We gotta keep Jeremie and Yumi alive. Now get going, will you?"

"Relax, Max. I see the second tower." He was dashing ahead at full speed now, but skidded to a stop when he met with two Kankrelats. But they were no obstacle for Odd Della Robbia. He busted one with a laser arrow and kicked the other into the digital sea before they could react.

Continuing running, he whined, "I'm getting too much exercise. Where's my Overboard?"

"Jeremie made the vehicles, not Franz Hopper. They aren't in the book."

While he darted towards the tower, Odd sang sotto voce, "Aelita-lita-lita!"

- - -

Yumi and Jeremie were clustered together in a makeshift shelter they built, which was basically thick metal rods slanted against one corner of the factory. The dust storm was raging now, gradually ripping up the factory, and they closed their eyes to it, clinging to each other.

"Jeremie...if this is the end," Yumi mumbled, "then...I want to say..." But the storm interrupted her. As if targeting her, it drew her closer and closer to its center. She was sucked into the cyclone.

"_Yumi!_" No matter how thoughtless it was, Jeremie jumped into the storm with her, reaching out to her. "Take my hand, Yumi. Everything will be okay."

Yumi smiled to herself as she took his hand. _Everything's okay when I'm with you, my love._

- - -

Odd was in the second tower now, that stupid song stuck in his head. "Aelita-lita-lita," he crooned under his breath as he floated upwards. "Lita-lita-lita."

He put his hand on the screen. "Aelita-lita..."

Aelita Code 

Odd typed in _Lyoko_, and the screen reflected it. "Aelita-lita-lita..."

Code Lyoko 

"Lita-lita-lita!"

- - -

The storm was so aggressive now that even Yumi and Jeremie couldn't stay together anymore. They felt their grasp washing out.

Even in the midst of this, Yumi was secretly almost happy. She was with Jeremie. She felt that only death could keep them apart...

Then, right when the storm was about to do just that, it faded away, vanished. Yumi and Jeremie fell from mid-air to the factory floor.

"Ouch!" they cried in unison, then sat up laughing.

"They did it," Yumi realized aloud. "Ulrich and Odd did it! They deactivated the towers!" She hugged Jeremie so tightly he turned red, both from blushing and from being nearly choked. But he hugged her back.

- - -

Ulrich closed the book. Their work was almost done. "Hey, Odd, I'm gonna have to activate a return to the past, in case anyone at school noticed anything. I've done it before. I don't need the book." He carefully typed in the code and pushed Enter.

As the bright bubble spread throughout the twin worlds, Odd screamed as loudly as possible, "Aelita-lita-lita!"

- - -

- - -

**This chappie is really short, but the next one will be longer. J/Y forever!**


	6. Aelita's emancipation

It was lunchtime - once again. Yumi, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Odd were sitting at their usual table.

"That was a brutal attack," Yumi commented. "I was controlled by Xana, then Xana sent this awful storm. But thanks to you two"--she winked at Ulrich and Odd--"me and Jeremie are okay!"

Odd laughed. "Going to Lyoko cheered me up! I love getting my A-game going!" Then he became more serious. "But she's still in the core."

Ulrich put a hand on Odd's shoulder. "We'll get Aelita-lita-lita out of the core of Lyoko-oko-oko." Suddenly Ulrich reached over and touched Yumi's arm, whispering to her, "Hey...can I talk to you? Alone?"

Hearing him, Odd got up. "I'm gonna go talk to Millie. Maybe I can work in an interview for next week."

"And I'm going to work on that core," said Jeremie, heading out of the cafeteria.

Left with only Yumi, Ulrich sighed. "I love you," he told her bluntly. "I'm sick of playing games. Of running around in circles, like you said." He held her hand. "I'll try to understand that William is just your friend. It's dumb to be jealous, right? I want you back, Yumi. I'd like you to be my girlfriend. Please?"

Yumi's mouth was open. She was stunned. Never had Ulrich been so straightforward! She didn't know what to think. So she decided to match his candidness. "No."

His eyes were as wide as saucers. "What?"

"I said no." She pulled her hand back and snapped, "Do I have to spell it out for you? I don't want to be your girlfriend. I don't love you. We aren't running in circles anymore, because now there are no circles between us to run. Get it?"

Ulrich's head was bowed, and he snarled, "I thought you loved me, Yumi."

She folded her arms. "_Taihen de. _Tough luck. You wanna know who I'm in love with? Jeremie. See, I can be just as frank as you can."

"I thought you were flirting with him to get my attention."

"Are you serious? Look, I don't want you to die of a broken heart, but _it's over_. I wish there was a more subtle way to tell you that."

She was about to get up, but he took her hand again. "Yumi. I just ask one thing."

"What's that?"

"Just one kiss."

Yumi thought about trudging off wordlessly, but she moved close to him and kissed his cheek. Then she trudged off wordlessly, leaving Ulrich red in the face at the table.

- - -

For the remainder of the day, Ulrich stayed in his room, only coming out to go to classes. He was feeling a bittersweet sensation of treading-on-air happiness and brokenhearted pain; happiness from Yumi's kiss, pain from her leaving him. It was mostly pain he felt.

When dusk arrived, and his friends were gathered at the edge of the park to say their habitual goodbyes to Yumi, Odd walked back towards school while Yumi put her arm around Jeremie and let him walk her home. Ulrich saw everything from his window. He watched them until they left his sight. He sensed another twinge of soreness in his heart.

Presently Odd opened the door. "Guess what? Party at Yumi's house!"

"Huh?" Ulrich twisted away from the window.

"Tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama are going to a company dinner. They're leaving Yumi in charge of the house, and she's gonna make Hiroki stay at Johnny's house for the night, so we're throwing a party. How cool is that? I'm bringing the music, Jeremie's bringing the disco ball, and you're bringing the snacks. Party at Yumi's house! Aelita-lita-lita!" Odd cooled down when he saw Ulrich's grim expression. "Hey, buddy, what's the matter?"

"You can get the snacks. I'm not going."

"You're not going? How come?"

Ulrich gave Odd an overview of his lunchtime conversation with Yumi.

"If she loves Jeremie, you're not going to stop her, are you?" Odd wanted to know.

Ulrich's grimace was a thousand words. "Jeremie should know better than to move in on his friend's girl, it's common sense!" Saying nothing more, Ulrich traipsed darkly out of the room and into the park.

He wanted to be alone. All alone.

- - -

Jeremie was trembling. It was impossible. It had started with a simple code and ended with a jungle of numbers and programs that made no sense. That didn't matter, though. The point was right on the computer screen, flashing: _Project successful. Project successful._

She was free.

- - -

"Please, Hiroki, just for one night. Please?"

Hiroki stood in Yumi's doorway, balancing her plea. Finally he shook his head. "No way. If you don't let me join your party I'm gonna rat on you, and that's that, sis!"

Yumi was sitting on her bed, staring Hiroki down. "Oh, really? Well, I can just tell your friend Johnny about Mr. Stuffy Waffles."

"You wouldn't!"

"I would! You go to Johnny's tomorrow night or I'll tell Millie and Tamiya also!"

Hiroki gasped and ran out of the room.

Yumi picked up her cell phone and called the supercomputer, since it had its own number. She guessed Jeremie was there, and she guessed correctly. "Jeremie, I took care of the Hiroki problem--"

"I was just about to call you, Yumi. I have great news!"

"Did you bring Aelita out of the core, Jeremie?"

"I disconnected her from it internally, but physically she's still inside it."

Yumi frowned. "Can't you get her out all the way?"

"Well..." Jeremie trailed off for a second and picked up his sentence. "I can, but she's unconscious and completely vulnerable. And she needs to get to the tower in Sector 5 to recover, because I can't materialize her while she's out cold, you know. So I'm gonna send you three in for a rescue mission."

"Alright. I'll be at the factory in a couple of minutes." Click.

At least Aelita would make it to the party now.


	7. Safe and sound

Jeremie brightened up when his friends arrived in the lab. "Are you ready to go?" he asked them.

"Aelita-lita-lita," said Odd.

"Looks like Odd's ready for his XYZ-game," said Yumi.

Ulrich said nothing.

"Great." Jeremie started typing. "Prepare for the big plunge."

"But I don't have a bathing suit," Yumi countered, and Odd laughed when he heard that. It reminded him of when their little group was first forming.

The Lyoko Warriors stepped into the scanners. After being virtualized, it took them scarcely over five minutes to make their way to the chamber of the core of Lyoko. Aelita was inside, her eyes closed. Her body was entirely white as snow, and around her burned an aura of green, blue, orange, and dusty pink - the colors representing the different regions of Lyoko.

"Wow. She's so lovely," Odd observed.

Yumi tipped her head to one side in thought. "Okay, Jeremie, bring her out."

"I'm starting up the program now," Jeremie called.

Aelita drifted downwards, out of the core, until Odd tenderly caught her in his arms. She was so pretty when she was sleeping. Odd couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Now it's time to take her to the tower in Sector 5."

"Are you talking about the one that we deactivated when Xana impersonated Franz Hopper?" Yumi said back to Jeremie.

"Yep. Once you get near it I'll guide you."

Yumi led the way, hopping cautiously off one long block after another. Ulrich was after her and Odd fairly behind them because of his precious cargo. He got to them soon enough. They jumped on their vehicles that they had left waiting at the beginning of the chamber and sped off, out of the chamber. They flew back to the mainland of Sector 5. From there they were directed by Jeremie down several paths and corridors and to the room, which, surprisingly, was free of monsters.

Odd, his board, and Aelita soared over the huge space between the mainland and their destination, with the rest of the team by their side.

"Mission accomplished," Jeremie applauded when Aelita was inside the tower.

- - -

Within a matter of minutes, the white glow and Lyoko-colored aura steadily rinsed out of Aelita. When she woke up, her friends, who were swarming over her, cheered.

"I can't believe you're back." Odd's eyes locked with hers dreamily. "You're a crazy mastermind for jumping into that core." His affectionate smile opened up her heart.

"I saved the core from the Scyphozoa, though, didn't I?" Aelita said casually. "Jeremie, go ahead and materialize us."

Tiny, thin sheets drank up the group and their outlined grids glimmered out of sight.

- - -

When safely back in the lab, Aelita cuddled all her friends close. "Oh, it's so wonderful to be back on Earth. I feel like I'm here for the first time. I felt so lost in the core of Lyoko - as if I were the only one alive anywhere!"

Jeremie nodded to her. "Well, that's over now. Hey, Aelita...do you know what yesterday was?"

"What?"

"It was the second anniversary of the day we met you. Yumi's throwing a party tomorrow night, and we can celebrate two things at once."

"Sounds great."

Yumi pointed to the elevator. "Uh, well, it's almost midnight. My parents are going to flip if they know I'm out late again. So...maybe we should retire for the night."

Aelita put her hand in Odd's and asked soothingly, "Would you like to walk home with me?"

He blushed and answered, "Sure. I'd love to, princess."

- - -

"It's so awesome that Aelita-lita-lita is back!" yelled Odd when he was in his room with Ulrich. "Isn't it great? I think this Friday I'll ask her out on a date. Do you think she likes ice cream? Maybe not. Or maybe yes. I don't know. What do you think, Ulrich?"

Ulrich sighed the sigh of lost love. "How should I know? Yumi and I never dated." He went over to his desk and picked up a crinkled note that was hidden under his lamp. It was a brief, formal note that he had intended several times to give Yumi over the previous summer before her "running in circles" speech, but he had always decided not to. He unfolded it and read it now.

_My dearest Yumi:_

_As you most likely know, we have come close on various occasions to admitting our mutual affection for each other over the course of our nearly two-year friendship. I would like very much to be in a closer relationship with you, and I am somewhat confident that you are aware of this. Please let me know your thoughts on this, because I am always ready to listen to your opinion._

_Your loving best friend,_

_Ulrich S._

Yumi's loving best friend crushed up the note and pitched it into the trash bin.


	8. Virus!

"Good morning, Île-de-France! This is Karmia de la Rente with Radio One, bringing you a quick forecast for the Boulogne-Billancourt area. This Tuesday morning is shiny and sunny, with few clouds. A thunderstorm may head in around 6:30 tonight. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a 75 chance of heavy rain. Now here's your favorite band, the Subsonics, with their popular 'Smash Hit--'"

Ulrich hastily slammed the Radio button on the clock. "Smash Hit" by the Subsonics had dominated radios all over Europe. There was no escaping it. If you planned on listening to music by any other group, you were out of luck.

Ulrich hopped out of bed, feeling nauseous. Odd was gone. All night Ulrich had dreamt of Yumi and Jeremie and had woken up in the middle of the night numerous times, sweat pouring out of his body, anxiety overwhelming him.

He was relieved that he made it to the morning and maintained his sanity.

It was cloudless and moderately cool when Ulrich went outside. Students were scattered about the courtyard, chatting with each other. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Yumi and Jeremie sitting under a tree. They seemed cheery today, but he walked in a different direction and pushed them out of his mind with great effort. He saw Odd and Aelita standing in the little corner where the vending machine was. It was as though everyone had a soul mate this fine morning, as though even the most hopeless loser could love and become accepted.

Everyone except Ulrich was happy.

- - -

"Good morning, class." Mrs. Hertz smiled at all of her students. "Let's get started. If you would open up your textbooks to page 40..."

Odd leaned over and said in a barely audible voice, "Aelita, are you okay? You don't look so good."

"I...I think something's wrong with me, Odd..." She fell to the ground. All the students gasped, and Odd was immediately at her side.

"What's going on?" Odd demanded to Jeremie.

Jeremie honestly had no idea. "I don't know! She wasn't like this before she was in the core. Xana could have bugged my program prior to my launching it. He could have bugged Aelita herself."

Odd raised her into his arms and carried her to the infirmary, where Yolande admitted she could find nothing wrong.

"I'm sorry. Your friend's case is indeed strange, but she seems to be fine. I can't treat her if I can't verify the source of the trouble. Just go on back to class and let her get some rest for now."

Odd was firmly determined to stay with Aelita. "Yolande, please let me be here with her! If something goes terribly wrong and I lose her, I'll never forgive myself for not being right there with her! I lost her once and I won't let it happen again!"

"Alright," Yolande gave in. She didn't understand what he meant when he said he lost Aelita once, but she understood his caring affection for this girl. "Stay as long as you like. All day if you so choose."

"You really mean it? Wow. Thanks Yolande, this means a lot to me." It was unlike any of the Kadic staff to let a student off for 10 minutes, let alone the whole day. Odd was very grateful.

- - -

Back in chemistry, the students were buzzing among themselves about what happened to Aelita. Jeremie and Ulrich were particularly concerned, guessing Aelita's mysterious situation was related to Xana.

"This is probably my fault. I don't remember scanning the program for viruses," Jeremie said dolefully.

Ulrich, in worse spirits now than he was when he woke up half an hour ago, chided Jeremie for letting the program go unscanned. "Well, that's just grand. Do you mean to say you never scan your programs?"

"Of course I do. But I didn't have time to scan this one. I pulled Aelita out of the core without any questions."

"The last two days have been nothing but disaster, and now this. I don't think things can possibly get any worse!"

Steamrolling the students' talking, Mrs. Hertz scratched chalk against the chalkboard. The students covered their ears and whimpered.

"I see I've got your attention," Mrs. Hertz said. "Without further ado, why don't we get back to the lesson?"

- - -

After chemistry came lunch, and Yumi and Ulrich spent the last few minutes of it with Aelita and Odd. Jeremie had gone off to his room to arrange a debugging program.

Aelita was still asleep when the infirmary door opened.

"I don't know exactly what is wrong with your friend here, but I'm recognizing signs of what looks like electric shock," Yolande informed the two new visitors. "But Odd says there was no electricity in the room."

Ulrich confirmed this. "There wasn't a spark anywhere. Can you find anything else wrong, Yolande?"

"No, I'm afraid."

"Are you sure?" asked Aelita. Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Yolande turned to Aelita, who jumped out of bed and stretched.

Odd laughed with mirth and put his arms around his friend. "You're okay!"

"Of course. I took a bad spell, but I feel keyed up now."

"Well, it's almost time for music class," said Yolande, "and it's time for a certain quartet to hurry up."

- - -

Yumi surveyed her living room as an artist would study his canvas before painting a masterpiece, making sure nothing was out of place. It had to be clean so she and her friends could tear it up during the party, for that was the masterpiece they would paint tonight.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama were dressed like royalty this evening for the company dinner thrown by Mr. Ishiyama's department supervisor. They stood before the front door, holding umbrellas.

Mrs. Ishiyama handed her daughter a scrap of paper with Japanese on it. "This is our number. If anything goes wrong, such as a fire or terrorists, feel free to call us, dear. Is Hiroki at his friend's house?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Mrs. Ishiyama's tone grew solemn now. "Yumi, I hope you weren't thinking of hosting a wild party here tonight."

"Well...uh, you see, Mom...I kind of was..."

"Oh, that was just a test, dear. You passed. Well, we're off. Take _exquisite _care of the house while we're away." And they were gone, leaving Yumi with the puzzle of how she passed the test.

For a second, everything was quiet. Yumi listened to the rain whipping her roof until she heard the car start and veer down the road. Then she locked the door and called, "Okay, the coast is clear!"

Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita fell out of a huge cardboard box.

"What took them so long? We were crushed up in there forever," Odd said.

Yumi winked at her friends. "Well, you're not anymore, so...let's get this party started!"


End file.
